Says Job of Destroying U.S. Economy Now in Congresss Hands -- The Borowitz Report

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)The international terror group known as Al Qaeda announced its dissolution today, saying that our mission of destroying the American economy is now in the capable hands of the U.S. Congress.

In an official statement published on the groups website, the current leader of Al Qaeda said that Congresss conduct during the so-called fiscal-cliff showdown convinced the terrorists that they had been outdone.

Weve been working overtime trying to come up with ways to terrorize the American people and wreck their economy, said the statement from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. But even we couldnt come up with something like this.

My Comment: The President/U.S. Senate/House of Representatives .... it is easy to blame this collection of politicians for our economic mess .... but the real blame belongs here.

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If I'm not mistaken, the New Yorker isn't exactly known as a stanchion of Republican policies and views. At first I chuckled over this thinking it to be like a Duffel Blog piece. Then I realized the serious side of it. Why do we need foreign enemies with the politicians we have here at home?

Al Qaeda Violence Stretches From Baghdad To Damascus...Al Qaeda forms volatile 1,000-km chain from Baghdad to DamascusMarch 12, 2013, Israels Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz rated war as a low risk for the foreseeable future, but credited the risk of escalation as very high, in a lecture he delivered Monday, March 11 at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Institute for policy and strategy. Almost every week, some incident occurs that could drag the region into a conflagration, he warned.

debkafiles military sources: Gen. Gantzs distinction between war and conflagration stems from the differentiation Israels senior policy-making and military circles have begun making of late to support a misconception that a full-blown war is no longer on the cards at present. They support this rationale by arguing that full-scale war can only be fought by large regular armies, while a conflagration or escalation entails smaller units and less terrain. The Egyptian army, which would be the key to a major conflict, is held up in this regard as being in no state to go to war, given their countrys disastrous political and economic plight. The generals, according to this theory, wouldl take into account the low state of their units and lack of logistical preparedness and simply decline to issue any order to embark on war against Israel.

So when Gantz talked about a conflagration, he was thinking in terms of the Islamist militias in Syria, Hizballah in Lebanon and the Salafists allied with al Qaeda cells in Sinai  none of which are capable of launching war on the classical dimensions of the past. What this kind of thinking omits to take into account is that, while the regular Arab national armies which attacked Israel in the past are indeed crumbling, the militias in their countries Al Qaeda forms volatile 1,000-km chain from Baghdad to Damascus

US-born former Army vet known as 'The American' fights alongside Al QaedaMarch 11, 2013 - He's a U.S.-trained soldier turned Muslim warrior who moves between America and countries where the winds of the Arab spring blow, fighting alongside jihadists and America-hating terrorists while celebrating his bloody exploits on YouTube videos.

Eric Harroun, 30, grew up in Phoenix before joining the U.S. Army in 2000. Although Harroun was never deployed during his three-year hitch, he has seen plenty of combat fighting with Syrian rebels and, more recently, Jabhat al-Nusra, a group the U.S. State Department classifies as an alias for Al Qaeda in Iraq. I was separated in a battle and most of my group was K.I.A. and Al-Nusra picked me up, Harroun told FoxNews.com during one of several brief interviews conducted via Skype. Harroun, who said he is now in Turkey, shrugged off a question about fighting alongside Al Qaeda terrorists who have joined the Syrian rebellion, saying, "the U.S. plays both sides, too." He said the offshoot of the terror group behind the 9/11 attacks welcomed him. Getting into Al-Nusra is not rocket science," he said. "It just takes balls and brains.

An American who has gone by the name Eric Harroun has taken up arms with Islamists, most recently in Syria.

Harroun, known among Syrian rebels and loyalists alike as The American, has moved from one country to another, joining protesters in the takedown of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before fighting alongside rebels attempting to depose Syrias Bashar al-Assad. A prolific poster of online diatribes against the infidel, he's joined the threads of those calling for the deaths of Zionists. His father, Darryl Harroun, told FoxNews.com that his son was discharged from the Army after he was seriously injured while riding in a pickup truck that hit a tree. He was left with full disability pay and a steel plate in his head, according to his father. "Now he has mood swings and what-not," said Darryl Harroun, who lives in Arizona and talks to his son by phone frequently. "He was already suffering from depression before that, and the accident just kind of multiplied it."

Darryl Harroun said his son is seen as an adventurer by friends and relatives, who call him "Arizona Jones." "He just loves that part of the world," said Darryl Harroun, who said his family has been in the U.S. for several generations and is not Muslim. "We scratch our heads and wonder what the hell he's doing. I told him, 'You're never going to change those people's minds over there.' But he says they treat him like a hero. "I know one day I'm going to get a message from over there, telling me my son is dead," he said. Darryl Harroun said he doesn't believe the U.S. -- much less his own son -- has any business in Middle Eastern affairs. But at least one family member seems to believe Harroun is fighting a noble battle. "Keep fighting Eric!" Harroun's sister, Sarah Harroun, posted on Facebook this week. "The people of Syria and you are in my prayers."

Soldier of fortune arrested...Army veteran charged with fighting alongside al-QaidaMarch 28, 2013  A U.S. Army veteran, who boasted on Facebook of his military adventures with Syrian rebels, was charged Thursday with firing rocket propelled grenades as part of an attack led by an al-Qaida group against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction - specifically, a rocket propelled grenade launcher - outside the U.S. According to an FBI affidavit, Harroun, who served three years in the Army before being medically discharged, was engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government, from January to March of this year. Harroun told FBI investigators that he traveled to Turkey in November hoping to join the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group. In January, he crossed the border and made contact with the Free Syrian Army, which outfitted him two Russian rifles, according to the affidavit.

Within days, Harroun participated in an attack on a Syrian army encampment that was carried out jointly by the Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusrah Front, commonly known as "al-Qaida in Iraq" and designated a terrorist group by the U.S., according to the affidavit. After that battle, Harroun retreated in the back of an al-Nusrah truck. Harroun told the FBI that at the al-Nusrah camp, he was initially treated like a prisoner but was later accepted by the other members and participated in several attacks with them, according to the affidavit. Harroun said al-Nusrah fighters would ask him why the U.S. had designated them as terrorists, according to the affidavit.

Harroun used RPG launchers in the attacks and once, on his Facebook page, claimed credit for downing a Syrian helicopter. According to the affidavit, Harroun told the FBI that he shot an estimated 10 people in his various battles, though he was unsure if he had ever killed anyone. On the Facebook page, Harroun also stated that "the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist" and that he intended to travel to the Palestinian territory because of Israeli atrocities there, according to the affidavit. The affidavit states that Harroun served in the Army from 2000 to 2003, when he received a medical discharge after he was injured in a car accident. An Army spokesman said Harroun served at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Riley in Kansas, and that his record listed no overseas deployments.

The federal public defender was appointed to represent Harroun at an initial public appearance Thursday, and a detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Peterson said Harroun faces up to life in prison. Harroun flew back to the U.S. Wednesday through Dulles International Airport. He was arrested after being questioned by FBI agents there. The public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, Michael Nachmanoff, declined comment Thursday, saying he had not yet had time to review the case in any depth.

Believe it or not, a grenade is considered a "weapon of mass destruction" WMD by the US Criminal Code. If this grenade were operable, you could be charged with a crime for possessing it. But possessing an assault rifle with a large ammo clip is legal. GO FIGURE! This issue came up because an American who was fighting in Syria for the insurgents reportedly fired a rocket propelled grenade RPG at a Syrian helicopter. The US Government is charging him with using a WMD to kill people (the RPG) which carries a sentence of life in prison.

Ex U.S. soldier charged with helping terrorists in Syria...U.S. ex-soldier charged with using RPG for al Qaeda groupMarch 29, 2013 -- Army veteran Eric Harroun fought Syria's government, affidavit says; Group he allegedly fought for is part of terror group, Justice Department says; FBI arrests Harroun at hotel near Washington

A former U.S. soldier has been arrested and charged with illegally using a weapon on behalf of an al Qaeda-affiliated group in Syria. Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix was arrested Tuesday night by the FBI at a hotel near Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. A Justice Department official tells CNN that FBI agents questioned Harroun at the hotel, then took him into custody. Harroun appeared Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, and was charged in connection with his alleged use of a rocket-propelled grenade in Syria.

The law used to charge him states, "Any national of the United States who, without lawful authority, uses or threatens, attempts, or conspires to use a weapon of mass destruction outside of the U.S. shall be imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or if death results, may be punished by death." Harroun served with the U.S. Army from 2000 to 2003. He is not charged with targeting U.S. troops in Iraq.

The organization he allegedly fought with, al-Nusra Front, is one of several aliases used by the al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist organization. The organization claims responsibility for nearly 600 terrorist attacks in Syria, the Justice Department said. An FBI affidavit says Harroun crossed into Syria in January 2013 and fought against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces. He posted photos and videos of himself on the Internet handling RPGs and other weapons, it said.

The Pentagon declined to comment on Harroun's arrest. However, "It's always a concern when terrorist networks in that part of the world and elsewhere seek to recruit Americans, whether they're in the military or not," spokesman George Little told CNN's Erin Burnett. "I don't think this is a widespread phenomenon, and most of our people in this country -- and certainly most men and women in the military -- would not consider joining a terrorist network," Little added.

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